Spray Paint 2

I usually take to art like a duck to water. The person teaching me made it all look so easy. He could grab a few cans of paint, a few paper triangle cut-outs, a piece of paper and go to work. It would only be a matter of moments before his picture would come together. He would just wave around the paint and move some shapes around and he would have a perfectly formed picture that only needed to dry. For me it was a lot more moving around. There was a lot more thought to the process and not as much emotion. You could always tell when I was done that it was forced. You see you have to move in fluid motions and work quickly because the paint dries. One of the major effects on these paintings is that the paint gets peeled off of lower layers of paint to create the amazing images.

I had my work cut out for me to say the least. It was nice to have someone to call for advice now and again but really what I needed was time and practice. As with most things that look easy, you soon find that looks can mislead you easily. I would spend at least 3 hours per day 3 days a week for months before I could pull off even a simple piece of work. I would sit around for hours just waving my hand closer and further from the paper. I would try passing it over the paper while pressing down on the paint release button hard or pressing it down soft. There is much to the technique to get it just right… My first nice looking piece was a simple black and white universe. It was simple but elegant. That one was signed and immediately turned over to my instructor with my heartfelt appreciation. He framed it and hung it up in his den. that made me feel good because I knew he would not hang it if it was not nice.

I continued to work on this hobby long hours. I tried improving myself regularly and while I have not been able to keep putting in the same number of hours I once did, I still do spend a lot of time fine tuning my skill. I can pull off several different style pictures now and I have even taught a few people how to create the works. I figured that I owed my teacher at least that much. I never did go to work making these as a profession either but I feel that if I needed to fall back on something it would make a good cushion for me if you know what I mean…